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FREDERICK SIMPSON COBURN, R.C.A.THE LAST LOAD, etching, printed in colours; signed, dated 1912 and numbered "No.16" in the plate 14 ins x 21 ins; 35 cms x 52.5 cms $1,500-2,000Literature: Gerald Stevens, "Frederick Simpson Coburn", Toronto, 1958, pages 42-43, plate 6, illustrated.Evelyn Lloyd Coburn, "F.S. Coburn, Beyond the Landscape", Toronto, 1996, page 81, illustrated in colour.Note: Stevens describes this work as showing a team of horses, tired after a long day in the woods: "The feeling of exhaustion in the horses and the man is in accord with the early winter dusk suggested in the carefully treated sky. It has many, if not all, of the qualities of an oil painting."

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MARC-AURELE DE FOY SUZOR-COTE, R.C.A.FEMMES DE CAUGHNAWAGA, bronze; signed, titled and numbered 2/8, cast in two sections, set on a base $20,000-30,000Provenance: Private Collection, Montreal.Literature: ﻿Laurier Lacroix, "Suzor-Cote, light and matter", Musee du Quebec, Quebec, 2002, pages 250 and 253, cat. no.120, illustrated.Note: ﻿Lacroix writes that the artist regarded this sculpture as "one of his greatest successes" and quotes Pierre L'Allier's view: "Even if Suzor-Cote had only created this one work, his name would deserve to be featured in any history of Canadian sculpture."

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GORDON APPELBE SMITH, R.C.A.SUMMER PAINTING, acrylic on canvas; signed and titled on the stretcher 40 ins x 44 ins; 100 cms x 110 cms $20,000-30,000Note: ﻿"Divided Green", a serigraph by the artist, features a very similar composition to Summer Painting, this lot likely the source for the print.

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PAUL-EMILE BORDUAS,CHATTERIE, oil on canvas; signed and dated '57, inventory no.12F printed on a label on the reverse 24 ins x 20 ins; 60 cms x 50 cms $150,000-200,000Provenance: ﻿Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.Blair Laing Gallery, Toronto.Private Collection, Toronto.Literature: ﻿Francois-Marc Gagnon, "Paul-Emile Borduas," National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1976, page 26.Francois-Marc Gagnon, "Paul-Emile Borduas (1905-1960), Biographie critique et analyse de l'oeuvre," Montreal, 1978, pages 429-430.G. Blair Laing, "Memoirs of an Art Dealer 2," Toronto, 1982, pages 156 and 200.Denise Leclerc, "Paul Emile-Borduas," Treasures of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2003, page 154.Roald Nasgaard, "Paul-Emile Borduas," Canadian Art, The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2008, page 142.Note: ﻿"Chatterie" came to life during an intense period of work in the artist's Paris studio. In the spring of 1957, Borduas was given his first solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York as well as a second at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Toronto that April. In this masterwork, the shapes are distributed in a dynamic manner, in what Gagnon has described as "an attempt to suggest movement and rhythm in space." Rhythm is at the heart of "Chatterie'"; the play of light on the pigments instills the composition with a fantastic sense of vibration. The white "ground" appears to be penetrated by black, deep blue and burgundy amorphous shapes and stained with tachiste red. Borduas wields his palette knife to sculpt marvelous variations in texture, spreading and layering his paint so assertively that, as Nasgaard writes, "the space of the painting seems to occur in that of the viewer". The intensity and simplicity of "Chatterie" makes the painting one of Borduas' finest.Borduas once expressed: "Basically, the element of the world that is for me the most permanent, the only one perhaps, is paint, physical paint, the matiere, the substance. It is my native soil, my land. Without it, I am rootless. With it-whether in Paris or elsewhere, no ﻿matter-I am home." By 1957, the artist had truly mastered his matiere, producing some of the most majestic and sought-after constructions of his career. Gagnon notes how Martha Jackson had purchased a large amount of Borduas' paintings in 1956, however, the following year, she had become far more selective in her choice of works. In July of 1957, she wrote to Borduas from Florence, Italy to reserve three striking canvases: "Bercement Silencieux" (Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario), "Ardente" (Private Collection) and "Chatterie". Gagnon lists "Chatterie" as having been sold by Martha Jackson to Blair Laing in March of 1960 and, since then, its location has remained unknown to the public until its inclusion in this auction.Blair Laing, who sold "Chatterie" to a Toronto collector, described Borduas as "an abstract artist genius," noting that the "...bold resonant paintings of his final years... severe and powerful as they are, [would] probably remain as Borduas' most important painting creations."

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ALEXANDRA LUKECOMPOSITION, 1964, watercolour and crayon on paper; signed 21.75 ins x 30 ins; 54.4 cms x 75 cms $3,000-4,000Provenance: The Estate of Margaret Ferguson, North York.Private Collection, Ontario.Note: One of the mediums which Alexandra Luke used with amazing force was watercolour, employed either in the pure state or combined inventively with ink or collage elements, such as Japanese rice paper, fabric or even birch bark. One of her watercolours from 1964, the same year that this work of art was completed, is titled "Adventure," a title which Luke used repeatedly but which seems to apply with special relevance to the paintings she created during her last decade.The composition of this painting is more loose and abstractly handled than in many of the artist's other watercolour work, where Luke would use a sort of grid, within which she placed blocks of colour. A strong playful element is often present in Luke's work and is evident within "Composition, 1964." The painter allows the watercolour to form pools of color which she interrupts with a delicate black line that seems to melt into the paper. Several other works from 1964 have related titles such as "Composition in Blue and Yellow" or "Red Composition." In each of these works Luke experimented with colour, composition, and space dimensions, as Hans Hofmann had suggested she do, urging the artist towards a freedom and spontaneity within her work. However, the unusually large size of "Composition, 1964" suggests its importance in her oeuvre - only about three other works of this approximate size are known, all dating from the period between 1963 and 1965.We would like to thank art historian, Joan Murray, for providing information for the foregoing essay.

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HAROLD BARLING TOWN, R.C.A.FORE, oil on canvas; signed and dated /66 52 ins x 52 ins; 130 cms x 130 cms $20,000-30,000Provenance: Mazelow Gallery, Toronto.Private Collection, Toronto.Literature: David Burnett, Town, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1986, page 132.Note: Town's "Fore" can be placed within the artist's Opticals series, a work which forges layers of tension through the movement between surface and depth. The artist's method is meticulous, utilizing various sizes of strips of masking tape to construct lines throughout the composition. A time-consuming endeavour, his layering technique creates a tension between the rigid bars and the looser forms which they appear to enclose. Town's oil paintings of the mid-60s have been described as exhibiting the artist's indulgence in "optical gymnastics". The reference to gymnastics seems fitting to "Fore"; the composition is filled with lines dipping downwards and shooting upwards in constant waves, twisting and approaching the viewer, before turning away and receding back into space. The horizontal bands of yellow and peach can barely contain the script-like formations which dance beneath them. Burnett states that many of Town's paintings shown in his 1966 exhibitions were, "sheer gesture(s) of challenge, the challenge to push a painting against the grain of what should work, the challenge to timidity." "Fore" is anything but timid; it exudes the dynamic optical schemes that Town's bold works of the 1960s thrived upon.

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LEON BELLEFLEURPOUPEE XVIIIIEME, oil on canvas; signed and dated '75 24 ins x 20 ins; 60 cms x 50 cms $12,000-15,000Provenance: Collection of the artist.Collection of the artist's daughter.Private Collection, Quebec.Literature: Guy Robert, "Bellefleur," Montreal, 1988, pages 117-119, reproduced, full-page in colour.Note: ﻿Discussing Bellefleur's work during the 1970s, Guy Robert demonstrates that the artist's ongoing preoccupation with the passage of time became intensified, the painter turning sixty at the start of the decade: "...We sense in Bellefleur's painting, with more fervour and intensity than ever in the 1970s, the diffuse but firm intention to keep from vanishing the flavour of an instant, the fragrance of a particular hour, the music of a special moment, and so give fleeting time new living space, a safeguard against its inevitable transience." Robert notes that "...paintings like [this lot] invent a space where time takes on a magical form".

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GREGORY RICHARD CURNOESILVA DISC WHEEL, watercolour and graphite; signed and dated twice, enclosed within the artist's frame 18 ins x 18 ins; 45 cms x 45 cms $12,000-15,000Literature: ﻿Literature: Sarah Milroy, "Greg Curnoe: Time Machines", Greg Curnoe: Life & Stuff, Toronto, 2001, pages 68 and 80.Christopher Dewdney, "Evident Truths: Greg Curnoe 1936-1992" (pamphlet), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1995.Note: Executed from December 1985-March 1986.﻿Curnoe's recurrent use of the bicycle motif highlights his unique technical skill with the often unpredictable medium of watercolour. Rediscovering a passion for cycling in the early seventies, Christopher Dewdney remarks how Greg was able to "fuse three separate interests into one: racing machines, personal participation in physically demanding competitive sport, and painting." "Silva Disc Wheel" underscores Curnoe's incredible passion for cycling that remained with the artist until his death in 1992, which occurred during a Saturday morning ride with the London Centennial Wheelers.Sarah Milroy writes how Curnoe had "described bicycles as a form of functional collage; through a limitless refining of the component parts, the cycle aficionado could produce a lighter and lighter machine." "Silva Disc Wheel" was given by Curnoe to the owner of a Toronto bicycle shop in exchange for his very own clear anodized Silva disc wheel.

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HORTENSE MATTICE GORDON, R.C.A.DESIGN FOR WALLPAPER, gouache; signed twice 21 ins x 21 ins; 52.5 cms x 52.5 cms $6,000-8,000Provenance: Private Collection, Hamilton.Exhibited: Exhibition of Architecture and Allied Arts, Ontario Association of Architects, Toronto, date unknown.Literature: Iris Nowell, "Painters Eleven, The Wild Ones of Canadian Art," Vancouver/Toronto, 2010, pages 255 and 260.Note: ﻿Upon a visit to Michigan while in her teens, Hortense Gordon discovered artist William Morris, a designer well-represented in the American galleries who had lead the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain decades earlier. Returning to Canada, Gordon's interest in the crafts grew exponentially and she began working in her own studio with a kiln, teaching classes on china painting and pottery making. Relocating back to Hamilton in 1918 for a higher paying teaching position, Gordon created a ceramics course at the Hamilton Technical and Art School. As Iris Nowell points out, Gordon believed in making art that could be enjoyed by all: "She tried to uphold William Morris's commitment to bringing the highest standard of beauty into daily life..." It was her interest in function and art that lead to "Design for Wallpaper", a product of her two passions, painting and craftwork. The work was most likely done before the 1940s when Gordon's interest in Abstract Expressionism had gained momentum and she began to study under Hans Hofmann at his school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. After Gordon's death in 1963, Hans Hofmann stated: "Hortense Gordon was indeed an extraordinary person; always directed toward the future and progress in life and art, and determined to do her very best in her work...and the results and consequences have been remarkable and beautiful."

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MAUD LEWISDEER IN WINTER, oil on board; signed 11.25 ins x 14 ins; 28.1 cms x 35 cms $6,000-8,000Note: Purchased from Maud Lewis by the family of the consignor, the original owner of the painting is photographed conversing with the artist, steps away from Lewis' famous home. The image was captured on the day which "Deer in Winter" was purchased.

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DAVID LLOYD BLACKWOOD, O.S.A., R.C.A.FIRE DOWN ON THE LABRADOR, etching and aquatint, painted in colours; signed, titled, dated 1980 and numbered 17/50 31.5 ins x 19.75 ins; 78.8 cms x 49.4 cms $20,000-25,000Provenance: Private Collection, Ontario.Literature: ﻿Gary Michael Dault, "Ice and Fire: An Interview with David Blackwood", Black Ice: David Blackwood, Prints of Newfoundland, Toronto, 2011, page 37.Michael Crummey, "Candles In The Dark", Black Ice: David Blackwood, Prints of Newfoundland, Toronto, 2011, page 120.Note: ﻿Discussing two of David Blackwood's most celebrated prints, Michael Crummey demonstrates that, "Blackwood has always set the human element in his art within that same looming scale, the ocean and headland and restless night... In "Loss of Flora S. Nickerson" and in "Fire Down on the Labrador", the human disasters are happening in the wings, barely registering against the vastness of the North Atlantic and its creatures. I've always been struck by how often light is a peripheral presence in Blackwood's best-known work, whether in the torches of sealers adrift in the cavernous winter night, the helpless ship ablaze in "Fire Down on the Labrador", or the tangential gleam of sunrise or sunset just offstage in his many seascapes... The sheer scope and eerie beauty of the landscape he depicts inspire both wonder and dread in equal measure. The cumulative effect of his work is to make the history of settlement of this island - and all human endeavour beside it - seem impossibly fragile and fugitive. And heartbreakingly tenacious and honourable".In a 2010 interview with Gary Michael Dault, Blackwood noted the immense risk which fire presented at both land and sea, a grease fire in the gallery of a schooner a serious threat which could lead to a catastrophic destruction and abandoning of a ship in the unforgiving sea. "...And then you'd be facing the worst possible scenario, the thing that was the greatest fear of all - to be caught in the Labrador Sea all alone, and having to abandon... So in my print 'Fire Down on the Labrador,' it's the ultimate disaster that I'm depicting - to be caught in that environment, and having to abandon ship."

Description:
DAVID LLOYD BLACKWOOD, O.S.A., R.C.A.LOSS OF THE FLORA NICKERSON, etching and aquatint, printed in colours; signed, titled, dated 1993 and inscribed "artist's proof III/X" in the margin 32 ins x 19.75 ins; 80 cms x 49.4 cms $12,000-15,000Provenance: Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg.Private Collection, Ontario.Literature: ﻿Sean T. Cadigan, "The Newfoundland of David Blackwood: A Historical Setting", Black Ice: David Blackwood, Prints of Newfoundland, Toronto, 2011, page 75.William Gough, David Blackwood, Master Printmaker, Vancouver/Toronto, 2001, pages 104.Note: ﻿In "Black Ice", Sean T. Cadigan illustrates the role which Blackwood's immediate family and their sailing vessel played in the fishery industry: "Over the course of Wesleyville's involvement in the Labrador fishery, about 175 men served as captains of ships, mostly schooners, that plied the waters off Labrador. Such was the calling of David Blackwood's grandfather, Captain Albert Blackwood, and his father, Captain Edward Blackwood, with whom David Blackwood sailed to Labrador as a young man on their schooner, the Flora S. Nickerson."William Gough notes that for "...Blackwood growing up, Labrador and the Flora S. Nickerson were always connected. The image of her stayed, vivid newly outfitted in springtime, heading bravely for Labrador, then sliding back into home port in the fall, sails worn, the look of a hard summer's voyage upon her. The sighting of sails full against the clouds, the look of a bone curve of wave in the teeth of the prow that brought the Flora S. Nickerson home. Perched on a rock, leaning into the earth, David would watch the boat, crisp against the day, and dream of the time when he'd head to the Labrador."